What we are working on:

Our funding has helped launch new models and public funding—from community college in correctional facilities to Vermont's critical occupations framework. We’re currently focused on three priority strategies:

• Teacher workforce development and diversification. Teaching is the occupation associated with the greatest demand in the Vermont’s Most Promising Jobs framework. Read about our strategies and investments here.
• Community college programs and pathways. We believe that career-connected, public postsecondary education closes opportunity gaps. Our decision to partner with the Vermont State Colleges (VSC) and the Community College of Vermont (CCV) specifically is strategic. Community college is an economic mobility engine; that’s especially true in Vermont, where associate degree graduates are the most likely in the country to achieve a positive ROI.
• “The Big Blur” between high school and college. With high school graduation rates and college continuation rates in decline, we encourage a reimagining of the last two years of high school and the first two years after high school in order to increase success for all. In Vermont, we celebrate flexible pathways that spark hope on students’ journeys to and through high school graduation and are encouraged to see recent strides in equitable enrollment and success.  Accelerated pathways like the Free Degree Promise, which builds on the state’s Early College program, is making college the easy choice for young people furthest from opportunity. Students on the pathway are graduating at twice the rate and in half the time as community college students nationally.

Our emerging areas of grantmaking interest include service-to-career pathways  and professional coordination and learning for work-based learning coordinators. To learn more about these and other funding opportunities, visit our Grants page.

Here’s what young people tell us they want to hear from adults:

1. Share Your Opinions and Experiences. We want your stories—what worked, what didn’t, what surprised you. Be honest, even if it's hard to hear. Just don’t pressure us or pretend there’s one “right” answer or path.
2. Be Real About Money. Money matters. We want to be prepared to live independently and succeed financially. Be honest about salaries, how to manage money, and the cost of education options after high school.
3. Give Us More Hands-On Exposure to Careers. Let us try things. Internships, job shadows, guest speakers, clubs, and real-life experiences make jobs feel real and help us figure out what we like. Give us more access and visibility.
4. Help Us Discover and Follow Our Interests. Ask what we're curious about and what we care about. Support our exploration of what interests us and where we might thrive. Give us space to change our mind.
5. Talk Honestly About Trade-Offs and Quality of Life. Show us how to weigh salary vs. lifestyle. Don’t just say “follow your dreams”—be realistic. Help us understand work-life balance, stress levels, and what different career paths really mean.
6. Talk With Us, Not At Us. Tone matters: we want respect, empathy, humor, and patience, especially if we’re unsure. Make us feel capable, not overwhelmed. Use words we understand and don’t talk over us.
7. Focus on the Practical Side of Career Paths. Tell us how to actually get jobs—during or after college, how to search, apply, network. Give us info on what’s out there and how to get there from here.
8. Help Us Take One Next Step. Give us multiple options. Explain how each step opens doors to other steps, and how it could create paths to our goals.  

A young peer tutor supports a veteran student in CCV's Learning Lounge.